The current 2012 International Building Code and most prior model building codes used in the United States (UBC, SBC, BOCA) dating back at least as far as 1972 have required non-structural building enclosures (aka: “facades”, “building skins”, “cladding”) to be designed to accommodate building movements. Said movements include, but are not limited to, vertical displacements of perimeter framing members (spandrel beams) caused by the application of live and other superimposed gravity loads, and the horizontal building movements of the primary structural Lateral Force Resisting System(s) (LFRS) caused by wind, seismic, and other lateral forces. There are many ways to resolve both vertical and lateral movements in light gage, cold formed, steel stud framing (LGCFSSF), in the field of the wall (along a straight run of wall away from building corners) via nested tracks, slotted tracks, slide clips, and several other mechanisms that are currently in the marketplace. These current methods and systems leave accommodation of lateral movements at the corner areas of buildings largely unresolved. Most current framing details and connection systems for LGCFSSF do not specifically address the unique conditions at building corners. Most current LGCFSSFSs require/assume some level of distress and/or failure of the enclosure system at building corners, have extremely large visible joints (to separate the two adjacent walls meeting at the building corner to avoid contact), or include a system that requires the use of a horizontal slotted bent metal angle and special finish materials other than the typical cladding material and at the corner: a special material that can undergo traction and contraction forces. Depending on the magnitude of the lateral forces and the lateral stiffness of the building, said building corners may undergo extreme distress and even member failures due to the bi-directional attitude of building movement at corners; lateral movement in two orthogonal planes intersecting at the corner. Alternatively large joints are needed—joints in the order of 3″ to 6″ in some cases. This current state of the art is the reason for the need for a better resolution of enclosure wall performance at building corners.
The present invention is a framing system that incorporates hinges and pivot capable stud clips in an effort to form corners that are easily assembled without large joints and simultaneously deformable according to the majority of current model codes.